Ode to Souffie Dog

Souffie in Quarantine on the Balcony, tucked in for bed time

Souffie, the Formosan Mountain Dog, came to us about six years ago after suffering some sort of injury that we assume was an incident with a scooter.  She couldn’t fully walk and mostly hobbled around, keeping weight off of her back legs as much as possible.  I had been watching her for a few months since she lived on the street near where I worked at the time, and when she was approaching her first heat, a pack of male dogs decided to stay close and harass her.  Given that she was injured, this was an unacceptable situation, so I scooped her up, put her in a cab (after getting the OK from my partner), and brought her home.

For the first few weeks, she was quarantined outside on our balcony; we needed to make sure that she didn’t cause an infestation of some sort in the house or pass any parasites on to Peanut, our other dog.  After the vet check came back clean and she had at least three pesticide baths to kill all of the ticks feasting on her, she was allowed into the house.  This was when her training began, and it took some time to figure out how to get through to her.  She was born and raised on streets of Taiwan, like many dogs, and so did not quite understand the concept of training at first, and there were very few things we could offer as a reward that she would respond to; she had no concept of toys or treats, and was highly suspicious of any food put in front of her.  The only thing that seemed to work was cuddles.  She loved cuddles.  She still does.

But then, she started to watch Peanut, our Beagle and resident food monger.  She started becoming less suspicious of food and more opportunistic.  She learned how to catch kibble in mid air, and she learned more advanced activities like wait, leave it, inside, outside, find it, and up.  She was unstoppable.  However, we began to realize that she learned very differently from Peanut, who throws herself into an activity until she gets it right (usually quickly) in order to get as many treats as possible but then forgets about a week later and needs reinforcement. Souffie tends to take a bit longer to get something right, but once she does, she’s got it for life.  Both dogs love food rewards now, but Souffie will still take cuddles, while Peanut prefers food or toys. Souffie still doesn’t play with toys much outside of the puzzle toys we give her (which she seems to love since there’s always a tasty treat hiding in them) and generally prefers to lounge around the house when at home unless there’s a treasure hunt prepared for her.  

Today, Souffie is a certified therapy dog in Taiwan, and will hopefully pass the certification test here in the States in April.  She is not a cold weather dog but hopefully she’ll do alright in the US; she is pretty resilient, so I have a feeling she’ll be fine.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Souffie is my best friend.  She is highly sensitive to my emotional state (even pre-training), and is incredibly loyal.  Her intelligence has made living with her a joy, and since she has learned to communicate her own desires which makes life a breeze.

Souffie is just one of thousands of Formosans leaving on the streets of Taiwan.  Formosans are known to be incredibly loyal (she will protect the house and is wary of strangers) and highly intelligent.  They were originally bred by the indigenous populations of Taiwan as hunting dogs and have historically been used, in packs, to hunt black bears.  They learn quickly and never forget; along with this, they are also very sensitive to input from their humans, so yelling at them or berating them sets them back considerably, but if you have the patience to understand their communication style, you can have a loyal, well trained dog for life!  

If you are interested in learning more about these amazing dogs, there are plenty of sites (though most of them are in Chinese) though wikipedia does have decent, but limited information.  If you think you would like to include one in your family, there are plenty of organizations in Taiwan that ship these dogs abroad at a cheap rate (usually $200-$300) plus minimal donation to cover vaccinations, such as BARK.  Import/export is an easy, straightforward process for most countries, and for the price, you can’t beat the feeling of rescuing a dog in need, especially for someone that will undoubtably be your best friend for life.